A label switched path (LSP) is a tunnel established using label switching techniques through a network of label switched routers. Occasionally, when a network element fails, traffic that originally traversed the failed network element to other network elements is diverted to another path to bypass the failure. Fast Reroute (FRR) has been widely deployed to protect against network element failures. Backup tunnels are created to bypass one or more protected network elements. When the network element fails, traffic is diverted over a backup tunnel to bypass the failed element. Specifically, the point of local repair (PLR) node is configured to reroute the traffic by inserting a new label for the backup tunnel, and the traffic is diverted accordingly. Once the failed element is bypassed, the backup tunnel label is removed, and the traffic is routed along the original path according to the next label. However, these procedures are applicable only to unidirectional tunnels.